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Friday, October 14, 2011

Before I begin this posting I must emphasize that there are many policemen in South Africa who are sincerely dedicated to their jobs. These policemen will not hesitate to go beyond their call of duty to serve and protect the inhabitants of this country, even if it means placing their own lives on the line. To these fine gentlemen (and ladies) – I SALUTE YOU!

This article is not directed towards the honest and devoted members of the SA Police, but towards the corrupt scum that has ruined the image and integrity of the SA Police. It grieves me deeply that such scum-of-the-earth were ever allowed to enlist, and that their miserable existence is being sponsored by the ANC government.

Praag.co.za published an article yesterday (13 October), written in Afrikaans, by Marius Harding. As can be deduced from the heading of the article, Mr Harding does not pose the question whether the police in South Africa are (possibly) accomplices to farm murders, or not, as this posting does. He explicitly states: ”The police are accomplices to farm murders,” - (Afrikaans: Polisie is medepligtig aan plaasmoorde).

The article discloses the rationale for making such a statement, and uses the Eugène Terre'Blanche murder case to support reasons for saying so. (The full article can be read here, in Afrikaans. A few translations from the article are provided further down in this posting)

I cannot agree more with Mr Harding’s arguments in this regard, and can actually add quite a lot more to his statements. The bottom line is -- the SA Police is an organ of the State. The very moment a police official is placed on duty, he/she automatically represents not only the Police Commissioner and the Police Minister, but also the government who has appointed these people. All South African policemen, no matter which political party they support, are ‘owned’ by the ANC government. The government pays their salaries, subsidizes their homes, and even pays for their board and lodging whenever they leave home on official duty. They are thus strictly speaking ‘servants’ of the government, and servants must obey their masters at all times.

In a criminal case, the State is represented by the prosecutor. That’s why they call this person “a State Prosecutor”. The State prosecutor relies entirely on State witnesses and other evidence presented solely by police officials. If an outsider, such as a private investigator, for example, comes up with any new evidence, the new evidence must form part of the police docket dealing with that specific case.

The system does not allow any direct access to the prosecutor’s office, or any other official of the court, but forces the private investigator to work, on station level, through the policeman who is in charge of the docket. It is only with certain ‘elite’ units like “The Hawks” for example, where qualified advocates assist investigators with aspects of crime investigation and evidence collection, where certain procedures may differ slightly from the norm.

In normal criminal matters - if a police official delivers a weak case to the prosecutor, or delivers a case which was not thoroughly investigated, the accused person(s) usually walk away scot-free.

Mr Harding’s article, as published on the website of praag.co.za, points out the following disturbing facts regarding Terre'Blanche’s murder case:

Translated from Afrikaans:

A police sergeant who visited the crime scene first, admits under oath that he made a false statement.

The investigating officer appointed to deal with the matter, forced the sergeant (who was first on the scene), to declare false facts.

Both these policemen were on duty and thus officially represent the police and the government.

The defence will claim that the evidence of both these State witnesses cannot be accepted by the court. A strong possibility thus exists that the murderers in this case can walk away scot-free, despite the fact that they initially admitted guilt.

One only has to Google the term “Judge slams cops”, or words to that effect, to see how many cases there are where the police have been accused of gross irregularities such as, fabricating evidence, abuse of power, corruption, and so forth. One Judge recently described the police as “useless”… Indirectly this means the ANC government is also useless!

Another tendency I’ve noticed is that when arrests are made by the police, the media is quick to make quite a fuss about it, often praising the police for their swift actions. However, a successful investigations does not stop the moment a suspect is arrested. There is always the possibility that the police may have arrested the wrong suspect.

When this happens attention is diverted away from the real suspect, as was the case with the Inge Lotz murder trial, and also with Anika Smit’s brutal unsolved murder. In both these cases, as in many other cases, the real killers are still walking around free, because the police didn’t do their job properly. The media were quick to report the initial arrests, but yet they are now silent about the fact that the police are unable to catch the real killers.

The principle that one is considered innocent until proven guilty, is a legal right of the accused in a criminal trial. The burden of proof is thus on the prosecution. Victory can thus only be celebrated once the suspect has been found guilty, beyond a reasonable doubt, by a court of law.

I’ve also noticed that the police have a tendency to send hordes of cops to a single crime scene. In other words - it seems they’ve adopted the attitude of “quantity” over “quality”. Not trampling all over a crime scene is an age-old rule of effective crime investigation, as too many people (and vehicles) on a crime scene can destroy vital clues. Why do high-ranking cops in South Africa ignore this one fundamental rule?

When ten people accused of murder after a 2009 farm attack in the Free State were acquitted by the Ficksburg Regional Court this month (5 October), the magistrate, Ollie Koekemoer, said in his judgment: “In view of the large number of police at the scene of the crime, including several senior police officials, the investigation left much to be desired.” – (see news report here)

One would think that because of the controversial nature of farm attacks and farm murders in South Africa, the police would have, by now, adopted a far more professional attitude when dealing with these cases, for example, cordoning off the scene for at least one month, until every little scrap of evidence has been collected. But, it seems this only happens in civilised countries, like Australia, for example, where crime scenes are ‘protected’ for months on end, and where every inch of the crime scene is mapped, using every single expert in the field, and the most advanced computerized systems available.

The police monopoly over evidence:

Evidence becomes State Property the very moment it is collected on the crime scene. A private forensic investigator, for example, who is not affiliated to the police, cannot simply request the police to hand over evidence for re-examination, the reason being that the police have their own forensic specialists. There’s a whole string of red-tape involved, before a private investigator can get to the stage where he/she can physically re-examine any evidence that is already in possession of the State.

Defence attorneys usually hire private experts – that is, only if the expert can assist in defending the accused. (In my police days we used to call them “liars for hire”). If it comes to light that the expert’s testimony may possibly be beneficial for the State’s case, the defence team will not call the expert to the witness stand. Only the presiding court official - Magistrate or Judge, can call a private expert, if he/she deems it can assist the court in getting to the truth of the matter.

From day one I’ve always suspected that there was something fishy about Terre'Blanche’s murder. I also wondered what exactly did Bheki Cele mean when he said, “I will crack this case!” The two suspects in the matter had already handed themselves over to the police, when he made that rather extraordinary public announcement. Did he perhaps mean to say, “I will EXPOSE the truth behind this murder!” ? – (See previous posting on this blog - It’s time to formalize our demands!)

When Cele was appointed to the position of National Commissioner in July 2009, he inherited a full-blown mess from the previous commissioner - that criminal, Jackie Selebi, who - by the way, is STILL not behind bars, despite the fact that he was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment for corruption, on 3 August 2010 already!

When the police changed their rank-structure back to the old apartheid paramilitary system, on 1 April 2010, thousands of very young black superintendents became military officers overnight.

Even policemen attached to the Forensic Dept. for example, who, for years (even in the days of apartheid), always worked in civilian clothes, were ordered to wear their uniforms. This state of affairs instantly placed ‘chips’ on the shoulders of 1000’s of young black officers. It also instantly changed the work-milieu into a paramilitary setting, with many young black officers adopting the typical Idi Amin mentality – (if you don’t salute me, I’ll get angry!)

From a couple of reliable sources in the SA Police, I’ve learned that Cele is probably one of the most sincere, down-to-earth, Police Commissioners this country has ever had. He apparently takes his job quite seriously, and is also seriously committed towards eradicating the Selebi-era corruption and rot in the organization. He apparently also handles stress quite well. The more pressure he is under, the more he smiles and waves, and the more he performs. He is not the pen-pushing type, hence the reason why he is more likely to be found visiting a crime scene, or visiting the family of the victim(s) of crime. Cele also visited Terre'Blanche's family in Ventersdorp the morning after the murder to express sympathy with the family.

All things considered, General Cele still remains a ‘servant’ of the ANC government. The ‘masters’ can thus do whatever they want with their servant. For example: They can place a gun against his head and threaten to pull the trigger if he doesn’t do as they say. It is my gut feeling that the “gun” I’m talking about may possible be that R500 million lease Cele signed for the Sanlam Building in Pretoria – (see initial posting - Public Protector Roasts Police Commissioner Over Building. Also, latest news on this saga – Zuma tackles Cele on police leases).

In the very latest news reports Cele is again being slammed over the enormous amount of SA Police firearms (11,935 in total) that have gone missing in the past five years. Remember that Cele only accepted the positon slightly more than two years ago!

Nevertheless, the SA Police is still in a disorderly shambles, with way too many Selebi-era amateurs wearing military-style uniforms who have NOT read that part in the constitution, which states that: “The South African Police Service has a responsibility to prevent, combat and investigate crime, maintain public order, protect and secure the inhabitants of the Republic and their property, uphold and enforce the law, create a safe and secure environment for all people in South Africa…”

The latest reports also reveal that one-third (91,191) of SAPS firearms still needed to be marked to clearly identify them as police weapons, making it nearly impossible to keep track of and recover stolen or lost firearms.

In other words, if a stolen police firearm is used in a murder, it would be impossible to establish whether it belonged to the State, or not. The report also mentions that 3,461 of South Africa’s 24,000 detectives were employed despite not having gone for investigative training. How can these inexperienced detectives be relied upon to track down and apprehend suspects? How can they deliver quality dockets to prosecutors? See full news report: Cele slammed over gun control ‘nightmare’.

There’s much more to debate on this issue, but with the few facts presented here, I close my case.

Are the SA Police accomplices to farm murders, or is it simply a matter of "some fruits in the tree got poisoned" when a bunch of Communists took over the country?

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